The Albert Dock

An architectural masterpiece,
That achieved worldwide recognition and fame.
Unveiled In 1845 by Prince Albert him self,
They were monumental, monolithic, vast and bold,
But carefully proportioned and functional,
Yet still brooding, rugged and cold.
It was Jesse Hartley’s granite epitaph.
His shrine to Liverpool to Liverpool’s
“Affluent” maritime past.
A stone citadel of enclosed docks and warehouses,
From dressed bricks and wrought iron
……….Finely cast……..
To provide Seven acres of pond like water,
For mooring.
And four acres of bonded storage space,
With vaulted, fireproofed chambers,
Where cotton, tobacco, silks and spirits,
Could be “more securely” placed,
Well out of reach of the pilferers,
Behind those massive, castellated, perimeter walls,
That were part built, legend has it,
By prisoners from Napoleonic wars.

Now yesterday’s Tuscan porticos,
And the covered Doric colonnades,
Became today’s “Tate Modern” art gallery,
And the ambient shopping arcades.